Judy had to admit one thing about Steve Hoppkins: the rabbit certainly had a lot of energy.

Throughout the morning, he sped through a whole series of interviews to promote his new movie. First he made a live appearance on XYZ 13 for a few minutes to discuss the film on the morning news. Then they had to hurry all the way across town to record a thirty-second advert to play on ZNBC that night. Immediately after, they dashed to the Zootopia Times offices for a photo op and quick interview with one of the newspaper reporters. Next thing she knew, they quite literally ran across the street so Hoppkins could record a podcast for ZPR.

It was only noon, and Judy was exhausted. Hoppkins, to her amazement, did not even break a sweat. In fact, the chaotic schedule seemed to invigorate him. His eyes had a kind of twinkle to them every time one interview ended and he dragged her to the next one. That phony smile remained plastered to his face without a hint of fatigue, even after spending hours upon hours talking about his film—or, more often, about himself and his many achievements in Hollywool.

In fact, he was so absorbed in his hectic busywork, he had failed to notice that Judy was struggling to keep up. Judy had worked hard to keep her body in such great shape, but somehow, it was not enough. Hoppkins was darting from one location to the next at such a fast pace, she barely even had a moment to stop and breathe. Her only real opportunities to rest were when he was in the middle of his interviews, but ironically, those moments were few and far between. Most of the time, she was busy trying to keep pace with Hoppkins as he walked along the sidewalk, or she was stuck in the back of her limo trying desperately to not be flung all over the place as Ricky sped through the busy midday traffic at dangerous speeds. She had tried to tell Hoppkins that she would have to write up a whole pile of traffic tickets, but it had done no good; Hoppkins, it seemed, treated traffic tickets like paid permission slips to do whatever he wanted on the road.

Finally, however, Judy had a moment to breathe. The ZPR podcast was scheduled to last a full hour, and while she was not allowed to sit in her limousine, she was more than happy to find an empty chair outside the recording booth and relax there the entire time. She was so worn out, she hardly paid attention to the conversation that sounded through one of the quiet speakers in the ceiling. She caught something about Hoppkins introducing himself as a "famous Hollywool producer", a short story he told about how he was voted Most Likely to Be Elected Vice President of The Homeowner's Association in high school, some mention of how he had donated a pallet of desk chairs to a food bank a week ago, and towards the end, he very slowly and audibly checked the time on his Rolynx watch.

Then, without warning, the door beside her flung open. She jerked straight up in her chair just as Hoppkins emerged from the recording booth. Thankfully, he did not seem to realize she had fallen asleep. His obnoxious, all-teeth smile was still spread on his face from one floppy ear to the other, and his brown eyes were sparkling with just as much joy as the second he entered the booth.

"Boy, that was great!" He closed the door behind him and adjusted the collar on his suit. "I can't believe it's been an hour already! Can you believe it, Judy?" He closed his eyes and let out a giddy sigh. "My God, I am good."

Judy fought off a yawn and forced a friendly smile of her own. "Oh, yeah," she insisted. "I heard every word."

Hoppkins opened his eyes again and looked at her expectantly. "What was your favorite part?"

She had not expected him to ask that. She hurriedly tried to think over anything she could remember, but her tired mind drew a blank. Finally, she settled on a noncommittal, "I couldn't pick just one part. I liked it all."

Thankfully, that seemed to be good enough for him. Hoppkins proudly puffed his chest, and even though she did not think it was possible, his smile spread even wider across his face. "I know," he stated matter-of-factly. "I am a genius, aren't I?"

Judy only had enough energy to force an unconvincing chuckle in response. After a moment, though, she relinquished her seat and stood back up, reluctant but ready to continue with their day. "So, where to next?"

"Oh, we've got a two-hour lunch break now." Hoppkins plopped down in the seat beside hers. "How about we take five minutes?"

She blinked, not quite sure if she had heard him correctly. "Seriously?"

"Seriously!" Hoppkins patted the cushion on the chair she had just vacated. "Come on, let's chill for a few."

Judy allowed herself a sigh of relief as she sat back down. Hoppkins may have been a sleazeball, but at least he could see she was struggling to keep up, and she opened her mouth to thank him.

"So, Judy, you wanna have dinner with me tonight?"

Judy's jaw dropped. Instead of words, all that she managed to get out was a squeaky, "Huh?"

"Yeah! A nice dinner at Baabara's." Hoppkins stretched his arms out, and one of them came to rest on Judy's shoulders. He flashed his unsavory smile when she continued to gawk at him in silence. "What do you say?"

Judy did not bother to hide her disgust as she forcefully shrugged his arm away. "Not interested," she replied flatly.

Hoppkins seemed completely unaffected. To his credit, he did withdraw his arm, but he kept staring expectantly at her, and his tone of voice changed to one of persuasion. "I can make it a very worthwhile evening for you, Judy."

Judy's face contorted into a glare. "Passion Fruit Flower Clause," she reminded him through gritted teeth.

The rabbit shrugged his shoulders innocently. "Do you see any flowers here?" He swatted the air dismissively. "And in any case, I'm not asking you to be my wife or anything. I just want to take you to a nice restaurant, that's all."

This was exactly what Judy had feared when she agreed to this job. Despite the many paragraphs in the contract that explicitly forbade Hoppkins from making any kind of romantic advances on her, he had already managed to find a loophole, and she was positive that it was only the first of many.

She crossed her arms and leered at him. "I will remind you that it was made very, very clear in our contract, that I am only here for business. I am not interested in anything more than doing my job, receiving my paycheck, and then never seeing you again for the rest of my life."

"So that's a no on the dinner, then?"

She narrowed her eyes. "No."

Hoppkins wiggled his eyebrows. "Come on, Judy. A beautiful, single doe like you, and a…" He paused, closed his eyes, and she guessed that he imagined looking at himself in a mirror, because his hideous all-teeth smile broadened. "Venust lupine like me. Drinking from the finest wines in all of Zootopia. Feasting on the most exquisite dishes money can buy. What do you say?"

"I'm not interested," Judy repeated.

Hoppkins kept talking like he didn't even hear her. "I mean, you've got to settle down sometime, right? Marry a strapping buck, have a few hundred kits—"

"Maybe I don't want kits," she flatly interjected.

He swatted a paw in her direction as if she was a fly. "Nonsense! The only reason females exist at all is to have kits…" He took a moment to once again look over her figure, his eyes ogling some of her more pronounced curves. "And Judy, you are prime breeding material."

Judy could feel her blood start to boil inside of her veins. Not only was Hoppkins one of the absolute worst examples of lifeform she had ever seen, but every time he opened his mouth, he only exposed himself more and more as the vilest, nastiest, most repulsive, most offensive, most abominable individual in all of existence. His objectification of her, his refusal to take no for an answer, and now his matter-of-fact dismissal of her as even a person was all too much for her. She was extremely close to quitting her job, flashing one of her fingers at the abhorrent oaf, and walking straight across the street to the Times offices with a juicy story about the so-called Hollywool celebrity. She could only tolerate so much, and no amount of money was worth…

The image of a giant pile of cash flashed through her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Half a million dollars, she reminded herself. Just put up with this for two more days, and you get half a million dollars.

"Now then, shall I have the driver pick you up at 7?"

Judy's eyes snapped back open, and she had to fight off a growl. She stood up from her seat, leaned over Hoppkins' face, and raised her voice to ensure that he would understand her loud and clear. "I don't know how else to say it! No! No! A thousand times, no!"

"I get it, you wanna think it over." Hoppkins ignored her huff of frustration and dug out his phone. "Tell you what, I'll go ahead and make the reservation for tonight, and you can let me know your decision later."

Judy could feel a scream of fury form in the back of her throat, but just as she was about to let it loose—and possibly slug this slimeball in his jaw—an idea popped into her head and stopped her. "A reservation at Baabara's?" she asked.

Hoppkins did not even bother to look up from his phone. "Absolutely! Unless there is somewhere else you'd like to go instead."

A clever smile crossed Judy's face. She backed away from Hoppkins and calmly returned to her chair, allowing him to browse his phone to his heart's content. "Actually…" She folded her paws in her lap and adopted a playful expression. "Is there somewhere even more expensive in Zootopia?"

Hoppkins finally looked away from his phone. He looked at Judy's expression to make sure she wasn't kidding, and once she batted her eyelashes at him, he smirked. "Now we're talking!" He looked back at his phone, typed something in the search bar, and presented the screen to her. "Le Bull l'Élise! The most expensive restaurant this side of the Camelrun River!"

The phone screen showed a short summary of the restaurant, and despite what Hoppkins had just told her, Judy still recoiled when she saw the dollar amounts on some of the sample dishes. "Holy…" She quickly fought it off and turned back to Hoppkins, once again all smiles. "And you will pay for everything?" she asked in a sweet voice.

"Every penny!" Hoppkins promised. "I can even be generous and tip eight percent!" He flipped the phone back in his direction and scrolled down to the telephone number listed. "So then, shall I make the reservation?"

Judy gave him a kindly giggle. "A reservation for two?" she asked, drawing out the last word.

He thumped his foot excitedly in response—precisely the response she was hoping for. "Absolutely. Reservation for two." He dialed the number faster than her eyes could follow this thumbs, and brought the phone to his ear.

Before the restaurant could pick up, Judy quickly added, "Can you please ask for them to put it under my name?"

Hoppkins' breath was now heaving heavily from his excitement, and upon hearing her new request, his tongue began to hang out from the side of his mouth. "Yes. Of course." He nodded his head so quickly, some of the saliva from his tongue flung into the air. "Reservation for two, under Judy Hopps."

"Great!" Judy clapped her paws together in triumph and rubbed them together enthusiastically. "I can't wait to tell him!"

"Yeah, neither can…" For the first time all day, Hoppkins' smile began to fade from his face as he realized what she was implying. "Who are you going to tell, what?"

"My date for tonight." Judy's grin turned from playful to mischievous, and she poked a finger right on Hoppkins' forehead. "The one you're going to pay for."

Hoppkins took a few seconds to process what Judy had just told him, but when he did, his eyes widened and the smile finally wiped clean off his face. "Now wait a minute—"

The line on the other end picked up. Judy heard a friendly voice speak into Hoppkins' ear, which distracted him away from whatever he was going to say to her. She knew he was going to try and weasel his way out of it, though, and she brought out her phone to take preventative measures.

"Yeah, I'd like to place a reservation for tonight," Hoppkins said into his phone, keeping his eyes on Judy the entire time.

Judy only had to bring open her Notes app, type out a single word, and present it to Hoppkins. 'Contract'.

Hoppkins stared at it as the voice on the other end of the line said something else, and when he was given the chance to speak again, he reluctantly croaked out, "No, it's for someone else."

Satisfied, Judy pocketed her phone again and relaxed in her chair while Hoppkins gave the restaurant her information. Table for two, that night at 7, the best seats the restaurant had, and he would be footing the bill. After a few minutes, Hoppkins hung up the phone and slumped back in his seat, completely defeated.

Judy patted his shoulder in gratitude. "Thank you." He glanced at her direction with an unimpressed look on his face, and she couldn't help but chuckle in response. "You know, I've never been to a fancy restaurant before. I think the best I've ever had was Appleboar's."

"Never been there," Hoppkins grumbled. "Too peasant." He glared at Judy, unhappy at her success in outwitting him, but knowing there was nothing he could do about it now. He took a deep breath, which stretched the buttons on his shirt to their absolute limit, and finally let out a heavy sigh. "It's fancy wear only, so make sure you wear a dress."

In an instant, Judy's self-congratulatory smile disappeared from her face. "Dress?"

Hoppkins raised his phone, which was still on the screen showing the restaurant details. "Yeah, see? They won't let you in unless you're dressed to the nines."

Judy stared at the screen. Not only was it spelled out that restaurant patrons were required to wear formal attire, just as Hoppkins had said, but the example pictures showed mammals decked out in some of the fanciest clothing she had ever seen. Most of the males wore tuxedos or other suit variants, but every single female wore dresses and evening gowns. She could only imagine how much any of them would cost, even just to rent for a few hours, and she knew she did not have anything even close to that elaborate in her wardrobe.

Hoppkins saw her disheartened expression, and to her annoyance, his fake smile reappeared on his face. "Don't have one at home?" He withdrew his phone and took a few seconds to type something in. Then he presented it to her again. "Let's fix that!"

The phone screen was displaying the details of a store on the other side of town. Judy had never heard of the name, and she wasn't sure she could pronounce it if she tried, but it was clear from the pictures that it specialized in bunny-sized formal attire.

She saw the prices of some example dresses, however, and immediately shook her head. "There's no way I could afford these."

"My treat." Hoppkins pulled his phone back and raised his free paw, stopping her from countering him. "I'm nothing if not a mammal of my word, Judy. I booked you a fancy dinner, and I'll get you a fancy dress, even if I'm not invited."

Judy had to admit, the rabbit sitting next to her had actually managed to impress her—albeit this one time, in a very small way. He may have been gross, and he may have been conniving, but if nothing else, at least he was honoring his promise instead of trying to back out of it. It did not change her opinion of him in the slightest, but it did help her understand him a bit better.

"Speaking of invited…" Hoppkins shoved his phone back in its pocket and flashed an intrigued grin. "Who's the lucky rabbit you'll be bringing with you tonight?" He studied her face in an attempt to read her inner thoughts. "You asked for two seats at that candlelit table, so you must have someone in mind."

Judy shrugged dismissively. "I don't know, I guess I'll just have to find someone."

Hoppkins' smile once again disappeared, and he stared at her in disbelief. "Are you kidding? You don't even have anyone in mind?"

"I might. I might not. It's none of your business."

He squinted at her. "Is it a rabbit named Roger?" he asked, fishing for information.

She rolled her eyes. "I just said—"

Hoppkins once again threw his paws up. "Okay, okay! None of my business. I'll drop it." He glanced at the watch on his wrist and stood to his feet. "Our five minutes are up anyway. Let's go get lunch."

Judy stood up herself, glad that this conversation was over. "I'll get my own lunch," she flatly informed him.

A slight look of disappointment flashed across the brown rabbit's face, but he quickly shook it off. "Right. Of course." He walked over the door and pushed it open, barely holding it long enough for Judy to follow on his heels. "We'll meet at the 1011 News station at 2 o'clock," he spoke over his shoulder.

"I'll be there," Judy promised.

They emerged from the building just a few seconds later. Their two limousines were parked out front, waiting for them. Before Judy could walk over to hers, Hoppkins stopped and turned around, indicating there was one more thing he wished to discuss. His dumb phony smile had returned, and Judy groaned when he opened his mouth and blurted out, "You know, we should take you to a beauty parlor, too. Bucks love seeing a girl all done up."

Judy slouched her shoulders. "I think a dress will be plenty," she mumbled, trying to end the conversation.

"Nonsense!" Hoppkins once again rested his arm on her shoulders, and used his free paw to spread out an imaginary map in front of them. "You wearing a dress, that's great and all, but you can look even better! Just picture it: that lucky rabbit, sitting in his chair, when you walk up, not only wearing a dress, but eye shadow, blush, lipstick—the whole nine yards! Imagine the look on his face when he sees you like that!"

Judy ducked under his arm and swatted it away. "Okay, I'll think about it," she said, if only to get him to stop bugging her.

At long last, Hoppkins seemed ready to leave her alone. He walked over to his limo, though he stopped short of the door that Jonas held open for him. He turned back to Judy and called to her, "Whoever your date is, don't forget, that boy needs to wear a tuxedo."

She lowered her eyelids and smirked. "Who said it's going to be a boy?" she called back.

Shock spread across Hoppkins' face, and for the very first time, Judy was convinced that he was completely struck dumb by her quip. After staring at her for a few seconds, not quite sure if she was kidding or serious, he finally turned back around and entered the vehicle. She heard him mumble something about how "these Zootopia girls are all such freaks," before Jonas closed the door behind him.

Judy allowed herself an amused chuckle as she walked over to her own limo. Ricky was standing there, still displaying his friendly smile, though he seemed bemused at the exchange. "Do I want to know?" he asked.

"Probably not." Judy hopped inside, plopped down in one of the seats, and had the massager running before Ricky even reached the driver's side door. After he sat down and readied the car, he turned around in his seat so he could properly address her. "Where to?"

It was lunchtime, but now that Judy knew she had a big dinner to look forward to—a big, free dinner, at that—she made the quick decision to only get a snack to tie her over until that evening. She leaned forward only far enough to open up the mini-fridge, and retrieved a box of Lunchamules she found inside. "I don't know." She looked out the window and examined the ZPR building she had just came out of. "Just drive around for a while. Let's see some sights."

"Sounds good." The limo started moving a second later. Ricky kept his eyes on the road but continued talking over his shoulder. "Not very hungry?"

Judy sandwiched a slice of cheese between two crackers and took a bite out of it. The taste filled her mouth immediately, and she hummed in satisfaction. She quickly swallowed before answering, "I'm eating at Le Bull l'Élise tonight, courtesy of Mr. Steve Hoppkins." She finished off the miniature cracker sandwich before continuing, "Dinner for two. And he's not invited."

Ricky's expression lit up. "Le Bull l'Élise, huh? Can't get much fancier than that."

"Nope," Judy agreed.

"Dinner for two…" Ricky flashed a playful look in the rearview mirror. "I don't suppose you'll be inviting your old driver out to a candlelit dinner at a black-tie eatery?"

Judy chuckled. "Sorry, Ricky." She leaned back in her seat, closed her eyes, contentedly munched on her small snack, and started thinking about all the delicious food that awaited her a few hours from now.

"I've got somebody else in mind."